>> live and in hd, this is "abc 7 news at noon," on your side. someone is setting fires in damascus. while today's targets are hay bales and mailboxes, residents in montgomery county and investigators are worried that this could row. >> smoldering flames and thick clouds of smoke hover in the air

and to the scene is what is left of seven fires intentionally set at random across damascus. that and that it is sad that someone is going around doing that. it sounds like someone is board or is looking for excitement. >> the 911 call came around 3:00 this morning. hay bales and mailboxes were set ablaze. firefighters said spent hours pushing out -- putting out the flames. the outcome could have been much worse. >> at that time of the morning, it could have gone unnoticed and go into a house where peopl it could have been tragic. >> these beer bottles may have been used as accelerants. >> we have one fire burned last year, and it was a random act and we had never had any before. we had three last night, which means it is escalating. >> he says the big obstacle now is clean up, potentially costing

more than $100,000. his big concern is what happens next. >> it progresses. it starts trash cans, and then it goes to houses. we need to catch these people and find out who is doing a. >> montgomery county police say it is too early to know if more than one arsonist was involved, but they are asking for your help in making an arrest. if you have any information, call the montgomery county arson hot line. for now, montgomery county police and firefighters will be beefing up to patrols in this area. going through the neighborhood, looking for clues. in damascus, pamela brown, abc 7 news. investigators are also taking a close look at this apartment fire in gaithersburg. the blaze stted on the third floor last night. they want to know if someone set the fire or if it sparked.ally

cideally. the complex was scheduled for demolition. we are just learning of some breaking news coming into our newsroom. cnn is confirming robert novak has died of cancer. the columnist and conservative political commentator was diagnosed with a brain tumor in august of last year. we will have much more on bob novak's life and legacy coming up at 5:00 on abc 7 news. a construction worker suffered serious injuries after falling 20 feet down a shaft in northeast. he fell from the eighth floor of a buildi under construction on k street. d.c. fire department crews perform a high-angle rescue he was stabilized at the scene before being transported to a local hospital. a 14-year-old girl is recovering this afternoon after being shot in southeast. bullets flew right through her home when their last night in the 1800 block of frederick

douglass place, hitting her in the back. doctors treated and released her from the hospital today. an investigation continues now in to who fired those shots. a high-school wrestling assistant coach is being held without bond after an internet sex sting. 26-year-old gary debrielle worked at woodson high school in fairfax. a sheriff's deputy post as a 14- year-old girl in an on-line chat room. >> he believed it to be a child, and the suggestions he made turned sexual in nature. >> fairfax county hired him two years ago to coach wrestling classes. if convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison for e indecent liberties with a child. fewer people are hopping on

trains and metrobus is. could it be because of the deadly crash? >> just what caused metra'ro's ridership to fall in july? it does not appear to be much, dipping 2.3% compared to a year ago. but in hard numbers, it is enough to fill fedex field five times. nearly half a million rise, 475,786 less than a year ago. if you thought those were opting for the bus, you would be wrong. the numbers are down there, too, by 4%, and in real numbers, by about half a million rides. it appears the late june crash that killed nine is playing a part. >> there is a lot of fear

involved. >> since the crash, metro has faced a number of negatives. trains are slower, running in manual instead of automated mode. >> especially the red line. you are waiting sometimes 10 minutes for a train as opposed to two minutes. drivers are caught on camera -- july >> drivers are caught on camera texting, and on phones. gas prices are much lower than the year-ago, making the car commute a more attractive option. >> i simply cannot afford it. >> some folks do have a choice -- add another line to metro's to do list. matt brock, abc 7 news. a massive water main break in burtonsville has been prepared -- has been repaired. water shot dozens of feet in the air after a maryland state

highway crew drilled into the 20-inch main while installing a guard rail on route 198 yesterday. several homes and businesses lost water. two homes were blocked. temperatures will top 90 degrees again today, and the hazy, cloudy skies could mean the chance of a thunderstorm. brian is keeping an eye on all this in our first forecast. how was it shaping up today? >> we are keeping an eye on the sky. we are anticipating a couple of thunderstorms. at this verer moment, a thunderstormopped up. there could be hsomeupeavy rai. weere is somethindown tois, iaee athnd s n sstweear flint il virginia, west of wastsyop pem a system pop up. you can see theednd iinaticg a teertemperatures outside, upper ladies to open -- upper 80's to

low 90's. high heat in committee -- high heat and humidity. more coming up. it is hard to believe that the d.c. public school students will head back to class on monday, and some of them will have to be in portable classrooms. eastern high school in northeast will undergo renovations for the entire academic year, so lessons will be given in trailers surrounding the building instead. studen we talked to did not seem to mind. >> i like it, it is ok. it will be a new experience to be in a trailer, so -- >> i think it will be more nicer, more decent. >> right now eastern only serves 11th and 12th graders. the old gym will be used for basketball and band and also as a cafeteria.

and rockville based company says its swine flu vaccine can be produced in weeks instead of the months that is standard. it will be a couple of years before approved for humans. that means it will not be available to help the current pandemic after the government slashed the number of vaccines that will be ready by mid october. >> the start of the school year has been accompanied by several cases of swine flu. a serious problem. now that the cdc has announced the nation is one month behind mass producing a vaccine. instead of 120 million doses by mid october, there will only be 45 million doses available with another 20 million expected to arrive each week after that. >> we are worried that there will be people sick who could have been prevented, hospitalizations that could have been prevented. >> the single biggest obstacle has been the h1n1 virus itself.

it has been slow to grow inside eggs, the key factor in growing and effective vaccine. >> if it multiplies slowly, it is hard to get the vaccine manufactured quickly. >> to the cdc will focus first on the most abominable groups -- health-care workers, pregnant women, and children. but they warn everyone is at risk. a 26-year-old victim in massachusetts had no underlying health conditions. >> it is serious in people with no underlying health conditions and about . >> if a school bus if eastern is sick, they have got to stay home. >> health experts are urging everyone to make sure they get their regular flu shot as an added precaution. an alleged cross dresser

accused of stealing a $2,000 chanel dress from the saks fifth avenue in chevy case -- in chevy chase is under arrest. a man dressed as a woman was caught on camera and arrested thursday after a routine traffic stop in southeast d.c.. virginia's gov is putting the brakes on expanding part ofthe lanes project. stretching from the pentagon to spot a been a county. virginia lawmakers are uncomfortable borrowing money. the house lanes construction on the beltway will continue. still to come, troubling new details in the double murder of that for a couple, and they are coming from one of the victim's children and a suspect himself. >> basically what we have here

now is less supplies. >> it is the new math when it comes to back-to-school shopping. also, a powerful weather forecast. if you're like a lot of people, you have high blood pressure... and you have high cholesterol. you've taken steps to try and lower both your numbers. but how close are you to your goals? there may be more you can do.

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new decals are surfacing in the double murder of a florida couple known -- new decals are surfacing in the double murder of a florida couple known for adopting children with special needs. nine disabled children her home when bud and melanie billings were murdered. one child told police through sign language that he heard -- that there was a knock on the door and two bad men entered.

seven men are charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion robbery. president obama is meeting with the egyptian president today at the white house. administration officials are hoping these talks provide ground work toward restarting stalled mideast peace talks. in recent interview with pbs, president mubarak highlighted egypt's effort to unify hamas and fatah. economists say we are actually easing out of our recession, but it may not feel like it. consumers still really are not spending out there, and until they do, experts say are recovery will be slow. lindsay davis' explains. >> i do not want to spend more than $20 on a backpack. >> brianna is not old enough for a economics class, but she is getting school on it with a

shopping trip with her mom and of the national retail federation says back-to-school sales are down 8%, with the average family spending for $6 less than last year. >> we are still running any confidence level that is low. consumers are not spending as much. >> wall street got a reality check, putting an end to a five- month rally. on monday, the dow fell 2%, dropping 186 pois. the biggest one-day drop since july 2. why? many companies second quarter results were not based on sales. >> it definitely comes from cost cutting, cost trimming, but not from selling more goods. >> unemployment figures showed a quarter million jobs disappeared in july. home construction unexpectedly fell 1% last month. still, many economists say we are technically out of the recession. >> we have had three months of rising indicators.

in a lot of economists say the recession is over and we are in recovery mode. >> data from the -- the fifth straight month of decline. it is not all bad. there is rising confidence among home builders, fewer credit-card defaults, and in early morning trading, the market is up. lindsay davis', abc news, new york. >> we are learning and in that stocks do seem to be rebounding from the sell-off. the dow was up 74 points. montgomery county is paying big money for a car sharing program that hardly anybody is using. "the washington examiner" is learning that the county paid enterprise rent-a-car 25 -- 27,005 that hundred dollars -- $27,500 that only a handful of

employees use. forecasters are keeping a close eye on hurricane bill, saying it too soon to know what effect it could have on the u.s. mainland. right now is a category 2 with 100 mile per hour wind, but it could become a major hurricane in the next couple of days. it could make a beeline for bermuda by the end of the week. or i guess it could go down like claude ette and ana. >> i have the latest on what and the being a chuckle because bill is our boss. you can see in the caribbean, the orm continuing to make its way west at 7 miles per hour. it will work its way west and pick up some intensity. we will give you a different

perspective here. what this will show is that the wind right now, 105 miles per hour, rounded up to a sustained wind. all it has to do is hit 111 to reach category three. gusting to 127, by 8:00 tomorrow morning it could become a powerful major category 3 storm. by the weekend between saturday morning and sunday, off the coast of virginia beach, carolina beaches, and even of toward the delaware beaches. it will be off the coast, and we are not seen direct impact, but rip currents could be high. a couple of storms in pennsylvania getting a little bit closer. the couple around the western suburbs, right off of loudoun county toward flint hill. sporadic isolated storms this afternoon with heavy downpours. a beautiful shot outside the

clouds developing here in the midday hours. we are soaring into the upper 80's. 92 in springfield, 90 in the district and 86 in germantown and the temperature is will continue to climb. factor in the high humidity, it will feel even warmer. heat and humidity funnel then. some sloppy air out there. there is a lot of moisture to tap into. some remnant moisture from claudette, which worked its way into the appalachians. those that pop up could be hefty at times, low to mid 90's for a high. thunderstorms this evening that will taper off. los 70's tomorrow, kind of the same deal, -- below 70's tomorrow, a kind of the same deal. tomorrow and thursday.

by friday, the storms will be more intense with a potent cold front. that will take us back into the mid if not lower 80's for the weekend. the weekend could be partly sunny and more refreshing.

the wife of embattled south carolina governor mark sanford is speaking out on her husband's affair. in a candid interview with """ magazine, she admits that the affair was a shock. she compared the affair to an addiction, alcohol and pornography, and blamed his job in politics for disconnecting him from the way everyone else

lives. former house majority leader tom delay is preparing to show the world some fancy footwork on "dancing with the stars. this morning on "good morning america, " he said there is nothing odd about a conservative kicking up his heels. >> conservatives can let their hair down, open their collar, put on some dancing shoes, and get out there on the floor just like the rest of them. >> at the 62-year-old former congressman said there would have to be some negotiations if they wanted him to wear sequins. the show debuts on september 21 right here on abc 7. ryan is back with the weather.

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another hot day out there, but it sounds like if we can hang on for the weekend, it might cool down. >> we do need a couple of the showers of there. that would be nice because we are so dry, and also we're starting to come back, i think. we will see a couple of storms out to the west. tomorrow and thursday, near 90. be the best chance would be thursday and friday for rain. >> thanks for joining us today. we will see you back here at "good morning washington." it's never too early to start saving up for christmas.

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